The Pros and Cons of Owning a Circus
by ImmediatelyWriting
Summary: After getting plucked off the streets, our beloved gutter rats started ruling a circus. They'd never thought this would be so much work. How is our humble family doing when working up to their first performance and will they eventually have an audience to perform for... And the skills :) Starring: Joker, Beast, Doll, Snake, Dagger, Peter, Wendy and Jumbo... our beloved gutter rats
1. Quite the Unusual Bunch

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Not long after us gutter rats had been plucked off the streets, the real work had begun. At first I didn't think trying to get a circus going would be that big of a task, but running one proofed itself to be pretty hard. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Like anyone would, we started out by picking stage names. I became Joker, and then there's my fellow gutter rats and humble family: Jumbo, Beast, Dagger, Doll, Peter and Wendy. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A seemingly small group to run a complete circus. Also, too few and untalented people for decent performance which would draw an audience. So the search for talented folks that wanted to join us began. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We searched everywhere, finding quite a bunch wanting to join us. Unfortunately these weren't folks with real talents, but more rather unusual persons like the batch we started off with. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Now, this meant we had to start training both ourselves and the herd we had gathered. Making it even more of a tough task. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"This began with me going around, asking what everyone would want to do. Of course, I started by asking Beast, Dagger, Doll and the other first-string members. With choosing our acts we had to also keep in mind that our bodies still were quite broken; even though we got fixed up with new limbs, there were some errors from time to time. We couldn't risk anything like letting beast walk the tightrope or making me do the trapeze. We had to think everything through rationally. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Dagger was still holding on to the thought of throwing knifes. Not only because he'd love to learn it, but also because it suited his new name. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It'd be strange if I'd start making cartwheels all over the place," he said, chuckling and glancing at Beast for approval. "Wouldn't it?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"So, just like that, we decided that Dagger would be our knife thrower. One down, but a lot left to decide. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Peter and Wendy asked for an act together, because that'd be most enjoyable to them. Since none of their bodies had ever been broken and both Wendy and Peter were rather flexible, I didn't mutter when they asked for the trapeze act. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Jumbo didn't ask for a lot, only a tad bit of time on stage would be enough to please him. He'd rather have one of the small opening acts, than having to be the climax of the show. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I immediately saw to that. Meaning I was going to think about it, trying to come up with a wee act that'd still give him the chance to steal the show. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Beast and Doll, on the other hand had a lot more trouble coming with a fitting act. Beast suggested doing trampoline acts, or doing something with acrobatics. She even mentioned something with a curtain way of dancing./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I must admit, she's always had the right curves and looks to be doing a dance or something acrobatic. Unfortunately, I had to turn down those suggestions./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Why, Joker?" she asked me, explaining how strong she'd become with her new leg. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shook my head and I would've walked away if it hadn't been her I was talking with. So, I took a deep breath and told her it'd be too much of a risk. I pointed out all of the problems she'd been experiencing with her prosthesis lately. If something like that would occur on stage, or while practicing something difficult, it could easily hurt her or break the prosthesis. It would possibly get her to be unable to perform for days, weeks or even months./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"After a long argue about this, Beast had finally agreed on it being rather foolish to let her do something acrobatic. She had to come up with something new, and fast. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"That left Doll and me still having to pick one of the ruling acts... and of course all the performers of every side-act had to be decided as well. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Before picking one ruling act myself, I went to the youngest of the bunch; my young darlin' sister from another mister, Doll. She'd been thinking about what she wanted to do for a while now. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Nothin' too girly!" she demanded right away. I immediately thought she'd bring me a large list of requirements, but after all that was her only wish. Other than that, she couldn't care less about what act she'd get. She just wouldn't be wearing dresses or girly make up. Neither would she put her hair in a ponytail, knot or anything that'd make her mutilated eye show. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We went through almost all of her options for the ruling acts. She rejected everything from doing fire performances to doing a clown act. But after almost an hour of searching for the right act, she chose – the in my opinion most girly act of all – walking the tightrope. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No, that isn't girly at all, Joker," she yelled at me when I pointed out how girly that act would be in my opinion. "Even the toughest fellas, like you, wouldn't have the balls to cross a tightrope."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I chuckled, leaning against the wall. I tousled her brown hair as she stuck out her tongue before pushing me onto the floor to show me how strong and manly she could be. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I laughed even harder when she teasingly said, "See? You don't even have the guts to push me back, pussy!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I glanced at her with a serious look on my face while whispering, "Are ya sure, little missy?" before getting on my feet and lifting her up. While I held her in the air I tickled her, she was swinging her legs and laughing and shrieking. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Not so tough now, are we?" I joked before putting her down. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She stared at me, not laughing anymore, and asked, "So, what act are you going to do?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shrugged. That was the biggest question of all: What performance was I going to do?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"That same evening, I sat down and glanced at the piece of paper in my hand. Everything had been written down from Beast still thinking about her choice to Dagger who knew exactly what he wanted to do./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As I looked at my scribbled handwriting in between the blue lines, I spotted my name. The space behind it, still empty. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"What was I going to do?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I wouldn't want to dance or jump on a trampoline, that would look strange. Riding a unicycle wouldn't suit me either. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"But what would?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"There's not even one act that would suit me in the slightest. It would all look weird or it'd be dangerous to do while I'm still adjusting to my new right hand. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I sighed before leaning with my head against the wall. I was exhausted, running all over the places trying to get everything ready to communicate it to father./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"All the paperwork is depended on me. Without me doing everything right on paper, father wouldn't give us the money to buy enough uniforms. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I yawn, my eyes were nearly closing even though the clock only just ringed to tell me it had just gotten nine P.M.. Not late at all. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"My hand fell from my lap to the ground as my eyes slowly closed. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Today had been too exhausting./span/p 


	2. Hooping, Acrobatics and Unicycling

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Beast/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Another day began with Joker running around and trying to get everything going. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"While he was trying to get the paperwork together, Dagger, Doll, Jumbo, Peter, Wendy and I were trying to get everyone training on some common circus acts. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We split the whole twenty headed group into four small groups. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Dagger would train a group of five on the unicycles. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Peter and Wendy would train five people on hooping and acrobatics. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Jumbo helped five people with chair balancing. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"That left Doll and me to train a five headed group of people to do assistant jobs on and off stage. After all we needed people backstage to call people when needed on stage, we found our assistant for Dagger's knife throwing act and we needed people who could put the needed props on stage and removed them afterwards. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was quite boring to train people to do such things. I'd rather taught them how to ride a unicycle than how to clean up after everyone's done. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Fortunately we finished training by noon. We were forced to stop when Joker came in, a worried look on his face. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As soon as everyone had left, he looked at all of us one by one. He opened his mouth, shyly glanced away and asked, "What act would suit me?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shrugged, even though I'd always found him a quite social person. Joker's awkward, but he still managed to say the right things. I'd imagine him being the main speaker of the circus, but I wouldn't know if he'd like that himself. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What would you think of acrobatics in those curtain things?" Doll suggested. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker shook his head and answered, "Too dangerous, what if my hand aches while doing such performance?" he answered, he really wanted no one to be in danger. "It could be fatal."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Doll sadly looked down at her feet, but she didn't give up as she kept suggesting different acts. Joker refused to do any of them out of safety. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Uhm, Joker?" I asked, he turned to me immediately with curiosity in his eyes. "What if you'd become our main speaker? You know the announcer of all acts and the opener of the show?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker's cheeks turned red as everyone agreed that he should be the one doing that. He'd been leading this enormous group for the last few days, it'd been mean not to give him at chance at taking the main act of the show. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yeah, I dunno," he mumbled. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No, Joker," I said, making him look up at me. "You can do this. There are enough reasons, this act is meant to be. You're talkative, cheerful..."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Good with kids," Doll added. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Dagger chuckled before saying, "And you're loud. Everyone would be able to hear you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yeah, even the last row," Peter joked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We all stared at Joker, waiting for his answer. But Joker didn't answer, he looked down at his lap, his cheeks still as red as roses. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Well?" I asked. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He looked up, he hesitated one more time before grinning. "Alright then," he replied, his blush slowly took away. "I'll be your main announcer... your Ringleader"/span/p 


	3. Dresses Many dresses

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Doll/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Okay, everyone get ready!" Joker said as he held an envelope in the air. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Beast, Dagger, Wendy, Peter, Jumbo and I all sat on the damp grass in the courtyard of the workhouse. Everyone was eager to know what Joker had hidden in the envelope. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""We're going to buy some outfits!" he cheerfully announced while he pulled a pile of money from the envelope. "Father gave us money to buy circus uniforms and greasepaint for everyone."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I jumped up, shrieking, "Yes!". I'd never gone out to buy clothing, it's not like we had the money before father had found us. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker chuckled, he tousled my hair before telling all of us to get up and come with him. We'd finally go to shops to buy clothes for the first time. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It didn't take long to get to the closest shopping street. It almost felt filthy to walk through the rich streets, as every one of the rich folks would look at our old and worn out clothing. Because even though we hadn't been living on the streets for quite some time, and our clothes had been washed, people still managed to see that group of poor children. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"While trying to ignore what people thought of us, we walked into a clothes store. A little bell rang as we came in through the door and within no time a man stood in front of us. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Can a help you, young folk?" the man asked with a polite though confused smile. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I took at step back, almost falling backwards while bumping into Beast, while Joker stepped forward./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes, sir," he said, as fancy as he was able to. "We are searching for some nice, though colourful clothing. May we have a look around?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The shop owner stepped aside and let us into his rather large shop. There were fancy shirts, white dresses and entire suits hanging from the wall. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I mouth opened stared at all the clothes as the man told us to fit whatever we fancied. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Peter and Wendy immediately left to see the smallest clothing in the shop, while Jumbo asked where he could find the largest./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"That left Beast, Dagger, Joker and me back at the door. I had no idea where to look first. Even though I'd never liked dresses, those white ones with frayed edges and large bows all looked really beautiful and fancy to me. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Dagger immediately turned to Beast, telling her he could tell her exactly in which dress she'd look the prettiest. Right after that he took off with her, pulling her to the section with leather dresses. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I looked up to Joker, who stared at the clothes with wide eyes. I had never seen him that amazed in my whole life. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He glanced at me when he noticed me looking at him. He grinned before saying, "That leaves us, huh?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Let's get looking for an outfit to your taste then." He laid his hand on my back while escorting me to the "young ladies" department of the shop. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker let go of my shoulder and looked me in the eye. "Stay here until I get back, okay?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded and answered, "I'm not a child anymore, you can go and look for your own outfit."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He nodded and smiled at me before walking away./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I looked up, searching for a suiting dress. Everything there were hanging, were dresses. Small or large, short or long, with or without bow. Every fabric, just another shade of a different colour. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A long, tight, black dress caught my eye first. Maybe because the bottom part of it looked rather like pants than an actual dress. But I eventually realised it'd be too tight for the act I was going to perform. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A loose and quite baggy dress grabbed my attention next, but the bright pink was way too girly for my taste. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I searched, digging for the right dress. But I couldn't find one. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It took me so long, that by the time I had given up, Joker had returned with his outfit all ready picked out and fitted completely. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Have you found one already?" he asked. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shook my head, sadly looking down at the floor. "They have nothing good."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker made some thinking-sounds while searching in between the dresses. I watched as he picked out a white dress with silver flowers on the dress-coat. He matched it with a pair of flat, white shoes and leggings, one black and one white. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He looked at me, handing me the outfit. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Why don't you fit this?" he asked while pointing at the fitting room. "I bet it'll look adorable."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I looked down at the pile he had just pushed into my hands and hesitatingly walked into the fitting room. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I fit on the clothes and when I looked in the mirror I almost liked it. It's too big, meaning that the dress was a little baggy and the leggings weren't quite tight enough. But Joker was right, it looked good. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"By the time I changed back into my own clothes and left the fitting room, everyone had already gathered there. They all had chosen their outfits. Joker even went crazy and chose an outfit for every one of the other performers. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Is that one going to do?" Joker asked. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded, happy I had finally found the right outfit. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We paid for clothing, and we even had money to spare. Of course this was great, some of us would be needing make-up, wigs or hair dye, so we could use the extra money. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Everything went in bags, going from Joker's extensive outfit – existing of a white shirt, a black and golden suit coat, striped pants a golden bow and black heels – to Peter and Wendy's simple outfits – a pink dress and a green suit. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I believe everyone was really glad we all got our outfits together. Amazed at how many choice of clothing the rich people have. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"With our acts decided, our training started and outfits together, the real work could begin./span/p 


	4. Noah's Ark Circus

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Dagger/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We all knew, now everything had been decided and we were training hard for days already, it was time to spread posters for our first time performance. The only problem, we didn't yet have our posters made... or decided on a name for the circus. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker got all of us first-string members together to talk about this important subject. We had to decide a name. One we all liked, would sound attracting for the audience and would suit our acts. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""East End Circus," Doll suggested. She explained it would tell people we're living on the streets before starting this circus, it would tell our story. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yeah, but so would The Gutter Circus, wouldn't you agree?" Joker answered. "That wouldn't really attract people."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Beast thought deeply before she suggested, "Tower Bridge Show, maybe?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker wrote it down, and if he hadn't I would've told him to write it down, because Beast's amazing ideas cannot be ignored./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Anyone else?" Joker asked, it was clear he had some ideas himself as well. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I opened my mouth, still thinking of a good name. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"London's Spectacle? /span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"No... too blunt./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Marvellous Aerial Circus? /span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Too... strange./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""The Enchanting Circus," I mumbled, not even noticing that I said that out loud until Peter and Wendy started laughing. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Wait, you're kidding right?" Peter laughed. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You must be," Wendy said. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Beast turned to the two and sighed. "Well, we're here to consider names. He's at least trying."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She smiled at me when Peter and Wendy stopped laughing at me. I smiled back and as my eyes met her I suddenly felt really warm. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She glanced away again, but I watched her as she opens her mouth and asked, "So, Joker? Have you got any ideas?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker shrugged and thought. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I was thinking something like Mayor Make-Believe Show..." He hesitated, shaking his head as he said it out loud. "No... no." He tapped with his fingers on this ground besides him when a large grin appeared on his face. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What?" Beast asked in curiosity. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I got it," Joker cheerfully replied. "The Noah's Ark Circus."/span/p 


	5. Snake

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Again a few days had passed by. They went fast as everyone was busy training to get their act good enough. Doll was doing balance practice, Dagger was training his throwing skills and Peter and Wendy have been practicing their trapeze act. Then there's Jumbo, who eventually got the fire breathing act and Beast who chose to be our animal tamer. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"And me... Our Ringleader./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I wrote my text, every word I have to say when on stage. Only thing left to do is practicing some quick tricks like juggling and such. And of course I had to learn everything I need to say by heart within a month. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Today we had to go out to spread the posters we'd made a few days ago. Otherwise no one will come to see our first show. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Jumbo, Wendy and Peter had to stay at the training field with the rest of the performers to get some more practice going, while Beast, Dagger, Doll and I went outside to spread around some posters. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We didn't have too many big posters to hang on walls, so we had to hand some to people to even spread the news of our circus. At first it was quite scary to approach people like that and explaining that we were a new circus with large acts. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Some people didn't even bother to stop when we wanted to explain them what it was all about and just threw their poster on the ground right in front of us. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Look over here!" Doll yelled and she gestured at a large group of people. "This is our chance to spread the news to a bigger audience."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes, good idea," I answered and I called over Beast and Dagger, who were spreading out flyers a little further. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We walked up to the group, but they didn't seem interested in us. Not even slightly. Their attention was taken by something they were gathered around. A large cage, probably holding something. I couldn't see what was in it, because of the crowd gathered around it. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So, what do we do now?" Dagger asked, but I hadn't got the slightest idea of what to do about this uninterested crowd of people. We couldn't just leave, it was such a missed chance if we did that. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"So I took a deep breath and told my group, "I'll be the announcer then." After I said that I squeezed myself past the people, excusing myself while I pushed people aside. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"When I'd finally reached the centre of the crowd, I saw what was hiding in the cage. A young boy had been put in the cage. He looked very scrawny and his white-grey hair was rather greasy. The boy stared at the ground with an unpleasant look on his face as snakes crawled onto him. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"My breath jolted when I heard the loud noise of whipping. I glanced aside, at an older man who whipped the young boy. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Come on, show them what you got!" the man yelled at the poor kid. "Stupid snake boy!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The kid opened his mouth to speak, but something in me said he didn't want to. So I stepped forward and took the moment of silence for granted. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Good afternoon, ladies and gents," I said in my loudest possible voice, like I'd practiced to. "My name is Joker and I have a big announcement to make!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I heard the man yelling at me while I spoke, but I ignored him completely. I had the attention, which was all I needed. Now I'd only have to sell our circus. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Over a month a new circus will visit your town," I announced. "There'll be fire breathers, animal tamers, knife throwers, trapezes, a dance across a tightrope and much more! If you're interested to see the Noah's Ark Circus performing, feel free to come by!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I felt how my voice took off when a man in the audience yelled, "Yeah, can we see the Snakeman now!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I swallowed, stepped back and fell against the cage. I shrieked as a fell to the ground and dropped all the flyers when my broken body collapsed against the cage of the snake boy./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Filthy kid," the man added angrily. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I looked down at the ground, at my left hand, it was bleeding and scraped from breaking my fall. Now, I realised that even though I had new, clean, fancy clothes and a job to do, people still saw me as the gutter rat I used to be. A filthy nameless kid, without a future. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What are you saying?" a young, familiar female voice yells. "You can't talk like that to him! He's my family, ya know!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I looked up, seeing how Doll was screaming at the man and Dagger stood behind her to intimidate the man. Beast immediately rushed up to me though. She kneeled down next to me and asked, "Are you okay, Joker?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded, and I quickly hid my hurt hand with ripped glove behind my back. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Beast smiled at me, stood on her feet and helped me up as well. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The audience was shocked when the next thing happened. I walked up to the old man, the one who owned the snake kid, or stole him away from his parents for as far as I know. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Say, mister," I said, loud enough that everyone could hear me. "I don't think this young man wants to do this." I gestured at the snake kid, his large yellow eyes stared at me full disbelieve. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The man chuckled angrily as he tried to push me away. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""That's not his choice, is it?" the man rudely told me before demanding the snake boy to say he liked doing this. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I turned to the kid, kneeled until I was at his height and asked, "Tell me kid, without listening to that old bastard. Do you like doing this, stuck in a cage?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The kid's yellow eyes stared at me and his mouth opened. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Of course he liked it!" the old man yells. "He would be on the streets if it wasn't for me!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shrugged, turning to Beast. "Can you keep the man quiet for a while, Beast?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She immediately saw to it, wrapping her hand over the man's mouth. It was followed by the whispers of people; I heard some of them saying we were doing a good job helping the poor boy, while others found us a disgrace to humanity saving a deformed species like him. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So, kid," I said and I put my left hand into the cage. "Do you like this cage? This em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Job/em?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The boy looked down at the ground, the look on his face didn't chance when he said, in a squeaky voice, "em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I never really liked this cage/em... says Emily." He looked at one of the other snakes and in a deeper voice he added, "em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No, me neither/em... says Oscar."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Right after he looked to me, a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "And I don't like it at all."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"His hand carefully wrapped around mine, and one of the snakes crawled onto me. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Will you help us, sir?/em ... Asks Webster."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I swallowed. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"He can control snakes?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/emI wondered with my mouth opened from disbelieve. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes," I said, while nodding. "I... we." I gestured at Beast, Doll and Dagger gathered behind me. "We'll find you a more fun and suiting home, outside of a cage."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The snake carefully crawled back onto its owner before I took my hand out of the cage. I walked up to the man, took the key from his belt. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I put it in the keyhole and carefully opened the cage. After helping the boy on his feet, I wrapped my hand around his bony shoulders. I looked at him as I told the snake boy, "From now on, you may belong to our humble family, if you want." He nodded. "What's your name, kid?'/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The boy looked at me, his face full on confusion. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I-I have no name," he mumbled before turning his eyes to the ground. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I smile, tousling the young boy's hair. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Do you want to choose one?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He shrugged. "em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"What about kid? /em... asks Wordsworth."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Do you like the name kid?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He shrugged again. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"One of the snakes hissed and the boy said, "em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You should go with Snake! /em... Says Goethe." The boy looked at me and said, "I agree."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded, turning to the crowd and picking the scrawny boy – now named Snake – up. I held him in the air, where everyone could see him and his snaky friends. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""From now on," I started. "This kid will be a free man! Snake will be a boy with choices!" /span/p 


	6. Snake Dance

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Snake/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The nice sir took me and the snakes with him, to a place where they had build up a few tents. Small ones, just to keep them from the rain at night. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He showed us around and gave us a place to sleep in one of the tents. He explained they were an upcoming, travelling circus. We would be able to stay there, he said he even had a small job for us here, but only if we all agreed on doing it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""If you'd want to," he said, crouched down besides us while handing me over a blanket. "I could give you an act, you could go on stage with us and your snakes."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shrugged, glanced over at Emily for approval. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I'd like that... /span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She hissed/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Oscar joined the conversation:em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" So would I!/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded, looking back at the orange haired man. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""We'd like to."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The man nodded, a nice smile on his face. "You may decide what you want to do; you can do anything going from a dance to having a conversation with the snakes. I don't mind, as long as you like it."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded again. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The man walked away, telling us he'd be back later, but we could always go outside if we needed anything. There should be enough people to help us when we're in need of help./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Nice place, don't you think?span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Webster asked, while crawling over the floor. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Quite," I whisper. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Don't lie, you love it!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Hissed Emily, who clearly liked a tent better than a cage. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I looked down at her and shrugged. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wordsworth interrupted my thoughts by suggesting: em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"We should think of an act./em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded and said, "Okay."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I think we should do a dance!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/emspan lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Donne suggested, but Oscar disagrees. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No, not a dance... we should do something fun, like playing music!/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shook my head. "I'm not singing... Let's do Donne's idea."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Oscar angrily hissed and hid away into a corner. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I lay down on the bed the nice man gave us, immediately getting surrounded by Wilde, Bronte, Donne, Wordsworth, Emily and Keats. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"With their warmth surrounding me, I felt save. Safer than ever, so after years of insomnia, I finally fell asleep./span/p 


	7. Three days left

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Beast/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The heavy lifting started three days before the actual live performance. We had to actually build our tent, today... in one day. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It wasn't such a big tent, but still it had to be put up, together with a second tent for backstage. And chairs, enough for three rows all around, had to be carried inside. Together with all the props for our acts. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was a lot of heavy lifting all together. Everyone had to help, because there was so much to do. So while Doll, Dagger, Snake and I made sure every chair got inside and was placed in the right spot, Peter, Wendy and a few of the other performers made sure the props which already had to be placed on stage – like the tightrope and such – were put down. Joker and the rest of the performers had been building up all tents this morning, really early, and were now dragging the props backstage. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Do you need any help, Beast?" Dagger asked me with a large grin on his face. I was carrying four chairs inside at the same time, but it wasn't really as heavy as it looked. Dagger, who only was carrying one chair, apparently thought a lady could use some help. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shook my head. "No, thank you."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"We both put down our chairs in the place where they should be placed. I stared at the rows of chairs that had already been placed. Many, many chairs. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What?" Dagger asked, I felt his hand on my shoulder. "Is something wrong?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I shrugged and glanced at him. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Everything was leading up to this grant performance. Everyone looked like they were ready for it; Dagger dyed most of his hair blonde, Doll had been fitting different wigs, Snake had been walking around with his snakes all the time, Joker had been practicing how to walk on heels and I... I'd been spending most of my time with the animals, finding a way to "tame" them. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's just all..." I stammered, looking back at the chairs. "It'd be creepy if so many people would actually come to our show... wouldn't you think?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Everyone had been practicing their acts; everyone knew their acts by heart. But what if so many people would come to see us... what if we messed up?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Of course," Dagger replied. "It'd be terrifying, but we can all do this. Especially you, you'll be amazing even if the animals don't listen to you on stage."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I chuckled, glancing at Dagger. His face was as red as a rose and there was a large grin on his face. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Thank you," I said and I smiled at him, making him turn even redder. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Dagger thanked me, but quickly said we had a few more chairs waiting to be brought inside. I nodded, he was right; we shouldn't be sauntering. Not so soon before the big show. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As Dagger walked away, I turned around and said, "Hey! Dagger!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He turned around. "Huh?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I bet you'll be amazing too," I told him. "But please don't mess up, we don't want to lose any performers on stage." I winked and an awkward smile appeared on Dagger's face./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'll be great," he said and as he eyes met mine, he added, "But only if you promise you'll be watching."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I nodded./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I Promise."/span/p 


	8. Perform!

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Joker/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: right;" align="right"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Calm down! /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Breathe in./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Breathe out./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I stared at myself in the mirror. It was the big day, the grand show. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A big amount make-up was hiding the black circles under my eyes, I hadn't slept in days. I never thought I would be this nervous. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"But here I was, telling myself to be calm... to keep breathing. This, five minutes before going on stage. I could already hear the talking of people in the distance. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's your time to shine," Beast's voice said. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I turned around to see the group, my family, standing there. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Doll walked up to me and gave me a quick hug, within a few seconds everyone had joined in. Beast, Dagger, Jumbo, Wendy, Peter, Doll, they were all hugging me. Even Snake and his snakes had stepped closer to give me a hug. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's show time," I mumbled, while I walked closer to the stage. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I could see the people, not many, but still more than I'd ever seen. They'd all gathered here to see us perform. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"All I had to do, was make a great start. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I look behind me, at my small and broken and scraped together family. They were sure I could this, and if they believed I could do this. I would. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I made my entrance, running to the middle of the stage. Spotlights now shining on me. I spread my arms wide and yelled, "Ladies and gentleman!" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"People whispered. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Was I loud enough? Or too loud?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Boys and girls of all ages?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Could they even understand me? Or was I talking in such an accent no one heard what I said./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Welcome to the Noah's Ark Circus!" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Oh, no! I was turning red, and my voice was already getting hoarse from the yelling. I knew I was nervous... But not em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"this/em nervous./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"What was my text again? What did I do at this part of my act?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I'm Joker," I said, while throwing the balls in the air. "this evening's ringleader."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Just breathe in... Juggle your balls... and shit!/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"All at once, I dropped my balls. Unintended. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"People laughed, I'd fucked up. There wouldn't be any use in continuing, the people would only be laughing at how bad everything was. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"They still saw us as the weak kids who had been living on the street. I still was weak at this moment, even with two arms I couldn't even juggle a few balls for long enough. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"But as I turned around to walk off stage, I saw them standing there. My fellow performers, my family... telling me to continue. Doll stuck her thumbs up and Beast mouthed "you're doing great". /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"So I turned around. Complete silence. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I closed my eyes, bowed forward. I breathed in, and out and continued. For the sake of my fellow performers, for my friends, my family... for the circus!/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A pleasure to meet you, it is!"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"All I had to do was continue, talk my way out of this mess. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Tonight you're sure to see performances that'll stun and amaze you! It'll leave you breathless!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"I got upright, looked at the audience. To my surprise, they seemed to be loving it!/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A smile appeared on my face as I said, "And now with the great blow from our very own fire-breathing Jumbo, the greatest show of the century begins!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As Jumbo blew his fire across the room, amazing the audience, I ran off stage. And the only thing I could think when I heard the people applauding and cheering was: I actually did it! /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Our show had began. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"And I knew, our circus would be known in all of England. Noah's Ark Circus would be the greatest circus of the century!/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Caveat; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The end./span/strong/p 


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